You know how sunflowers track the sun and move with it? They are powered by light. Well, researchers at the University of Florida have used a single molecule of DNA to create a molecular nanomotor powered only by particles of light (photons). It’s not the first photon driven nanomotor but it is the first made entirely of a single DNA molecule. There’s an artist’s illustration and more detail about the work here.
On a more philosophical bent, a physicist at Canada’s Perimeter Institute, Lee Smolin who, based on his work with Roberto Mangabeira Unger, a Brazilian philospher, suggests that the timeless multiverse (beloved of physicists and science fiction writers) does not exist. The article by Smolin was written for Physics World and is available here.
hey! someone is twittering about you- I just searched ‘frogheart’ on twitter and linked here … ‘some philosophy’ s/he calls your musings.
congrats!
s
Hi Susan! Thanks for letting me know.
Pingback: Evelyn Fox Keller, Lee Smolin, or Kathleen M. Vogel may be speaking at a science event near you « FrogHeart